The Royals is loosely based on the Michelle Ray novel Falling for Hamlet.Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times described the show as "a tongue-in-cheek nighttime soap" and "a Dynasty about a real dynasty".Creator Schwahn said of the series, "It's a family drama. It's about a family, and it just happens to be a royal family ... [but] not the royal family."Hurley called The Royals "a very nice combination of what the public sees and what the public will never see."Regan said of his character, the "soft-spoken" King Simon: "He's coping with a great deal of grief for the loss of his eldest son, Robert ... He's coping with that and trying to work out how the royal family can exist in the world they're now in."Moseley commented on his own storyline as playboy Prince Liam, "it's like (if) Prince Harry was thrown into being the next King of England [sic]."He basically is sort of a rebel ... doesn't really care what anybody thinks, does whatever he wants to do, when he wants to do it," he later added.Park said of her wild Princess Eleanor, "she's young and trying to find where her place is in the world. She's a party girl."